Tourism sector is key to revival of Indian Economy: From the founder’s desk – Part 2
Now, let us view the scenario from another angle employment. The central tourism ministry mentions that tourism, either directly or indirectly, accounts for the employment of almost 90 million people. Add to this the 100 million-odd people who are employed in the travel sector and you can understand its significance. Now here’s the bad news: 20 million jobs can be put to immediate risk if the travel sector fails to come out of this dire situation, while some experts estimate it a notch higher at 50 million.
Kerala, as discussed in the previous blog, churned out INR 28,000 crore from foreign and domestic tourism in 2018. Tourism contributed to a quarter of the state’s employment figures. The same rings true for Kashmir, Sikkim, Goa and Rajasthan. Not to mention Tamilnadu (that is manufacturing-focussed) and Uttar Pradesh (mainly an agrarian economy) depending on tourism for revenue. The two added up to more than a third of India’s total tourist visits in 2018.
This is the story in most states that are dependent upon the travel sector. As for Kerala, the current situation can prove havoc for specific regions and districts. And Kashmir, Uttarakand, Bihar and Rajasthan are no different as per some ground reports. Reports show that 95 per cent of hotels and guest stays, and almost 80 per cent of tour operators are closed temporarily citing losses. Needless to say, more number of people will be actually affected by the ongoing economic crunch fuelled by lockdown after lockdowns than the pandemic.
There have been several unsuccessful attempts in the past to kick-start tourism, thanks to the growing COVID-19 cases in most states of India. I feel there has to be an integrated effort at the policy-making level both by the Central and state governments as well as by the stakeholders and industry participants to revisit the long-term perks of reviving the travel and tourism sector. The sector has to be viewed as an integral part of the bigger economic and social ecosystem. All said and done I admit that there are few man-made complications that hamper the mobility of people and transport system. We will continue our musings in the next part of the blog series.
Tourism sector is key to revival of Indian Economy: From the founder’s desk – Part 1
Someone asked me the other day if travel is really that important when people are literally scared to venture outside of their homes. The argument basically revolved around the point that key industrial sectors including manufacturing, construction, education and agriculture are awaiting impatiently for a revival of sorts so as to stabilize the economy. But the fact remains that the travel and tourism sector which has contributed substantially to the country’s GDP and job generation cannot be easily discounted. Just for the numbers, the tourism value chain contributes upwards of 9 per cent to the country’s GDP. For a $3 trillion economy, it accounts for a massive $270 billion. The numbers can be higher if we include the demand for food and beverage, fuel as well as how the manufacturing (auto and aviation) and services (construction, real estate and logistics) are impacted. A fourth of this can be stripped of if we fail to implement the right steps now. For instance, almost 12 per cent of Kerala’s GDP is through tourism revenue. A dozen states in India depend largely on tourist cash.
I do agree that people simply don’t have the cover to spend on travel and luxury, but if you take the broader spectrum of things, the time is ripe to restart tourism, given its compound effect on the jobs, economy and people, both psychologically and socially.
If people decide to take short vacations, they can break the ominously threatening viral chains on the economy, serving as the vehicles of growth for the post COVID-19 pandemic recovery phase. If physical barriers are traversed, they can undo restrictions on the movement of labour. This can revitalize factories, considered imperative in the fight against the virus. More on this in the subsequent blog.
Health safety protocols for Tour Operators
A growing travel trend that is fast catching up post-COVI9-19 is private trips and hotel stay and experience that puts isolation above everything else. For those who cannot afford to buy such experiences, travel and tour operators are coming up with novel ways, in addition to the usual social distancing and advanced cleaning and hygiene procedures, that are actually much safer than you imagine. This said it is important that guests, suppliers and staff follow the strict guidelines and modalities as laid down in the COVID-19 safety guidelines.
Group travel when done right actually offers travellers with their own bubble, where they can relax and leave the rest to their guide. Emperor Traveline is a trusted travel brand, and that is the biggest advantage in this new world gripped by the COVID-19 marked by stringent safety and hygiene standards. We offer great assurance for our customers and the pandemic proved to be an opportunity to differentiate ourselves from the rest. We have also developed COVID-19 health and sanitizing guidelines to show that we are compliant.
Guidelines are in place for social distancing, staff training on sanitization and the use of hand sanitizer and masks by guests and staff. We also oversee the safety and health practises of restaurants, hotels and other suppliers to assure our customers that they are fully compliant with the protocols and all local health regulations. We developed these guidelines in collaboration with member companies and build upon our resources and standards from the WHO, IMRC, CDC and protocols of the state government.
We have had an open eyes and ears to the growing concerns of our customers on the health and safety guidelines for tour and travel post-pandemic. With the support of our member organizations and partners, we ensure our customers a safe and secure travel in compliance with the safety policies and all local health rules.
Travel Industry will reach pre-pandemic levels by 2023 – Part 2
The travel industry is witnessing a new low, with the major reason being extremely low fares in the country, approximately 50% of the global average maintenance cost. It is widely expected that the government will lower the tax on ATF or at least introduce GST into it, and also bring down the airport fees as something that will revive the fortunes of the sector.
The logistics industry had performed well, particularly air cargo. However, the pandemic has affected the cargo movement too. The government is likely to remove bottlenecks such as the tax on fuels which is also expected in the case of aviation. But perhaps the best lesson that the pandemic has had for businesses, big or small, is the adoption of digital technology and how they can use it to scale up the existing capacity.
Businesses that are short of resources and revenues must know to how to give the best response to unpredictable market conditions. Economy of operational costs and optimizing efficiency is the key to running enterprises, and only technology can make it happen.
The crisis has also transformed the way work is done. ‘Work from home’ or ‘WFH’ is the ‘new normal’ offering the freedom to hire bright talents from anywhere globally. This also means reduced headcount whilst offering a better work-life balance. It is a helpful step towards facilitating greater participation of the fairer sex as well as the social inclusion of the differentiately abled.
Kerala, for instance, one of the most important tourist destinations in India, is also a growing IT powerhouse that can drive global business transformation and business process management in the travel and hospitality sector. The state is also looking to upgrade its higher education capacity by encouraging teachers to upskill their knowledge and universities to foster digital transformation in the administration area.
Travel Industry will reach pre-pandemic levels by 2023 – Part 1
The world has been reeling down under the weight of COVID-19 or the Novel Corona Virus, as businesses struggle to pick up post-outbreak of the deadly pandemic crisis. The travel and hospitality sector by far has been the worst hit sector. Experts opine that for the travel sector to revive its fortunes, it should put technology at the heart of operation. And rightly so, other industry sectors have started innovating in novel ways hitherto never seen. Experimentation at the technological front is already paying rich dividends.
The travel industry devastated by the spiraling effects of COVID-19 will see a revival mode in 2021, and expected to achieve the pre-pandemic crisis level by 2023 with more flights in action.
It is estimated that the travel industry and aviation sector will shrink by 25% and 50% respectively in 2020 to grow steadily by 2021, and hit the pre-crisis level by 2023. The aviation sector worldwide suffered over 20% during the month of May which further declined to 80% in June. Many experts expect world aviation to improve by 30% to 35% in July going by the recent numbers; however, there is a big concern of more than 10 major countries including the US being badly hit.
The US had pumped $50 billion into the global aviation industry, as a bail-out package, while England and Japan had offered about 20% of their GDP. All said and done, India has failed to rise up to its full potential with Air India, one of the major Indian air carriers, facing the heat. So, what is the road ahead? We will continue our discussion in the subsequent blog.
Travel will live on…From the founder’s desk of Emperor Traveline – Part 5
It has been quite an extended series of posts. But I rather enjoy writing these as I strongly believe the travel sector will revive, and, as believed by most travel experts and analysts, in a more explosive way only if the post COVID-19 security measures and protocol are in place. Technology, as we discussed in the previous posts, is the vital cog in the wheel. In the concluding part of the blog series, let me touch upon another important factor that of collaboration.
The travel world is undergoing a sea of changes at the moment and consequently, it has redefined travel space characterized by sustainability, agility and resilience. Collaboration holds the license to the future and rightly so.
The use of digital technology will see new heights than ever before. Next, the development of a cohesive policy and legal regime surrounding the use of digital technologies in place should strike a balance between the protection of civil rights and public health. Finally, the travel ecosystem should ensure the integration of different digital identity solutions. The role played by organizations including International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) will be vital to bring aviation and health priorities, policies and guidelines together. Paper-based passports are still the primary form of identity for travelers. A contactless world would demand the deployment of standardized digital travel credentials and initiatives such as IATA’s ONE ID concept, which espouses biometrics for a seamless journey, must be adapted and accelerated to this novel context.
Ultimately, the pandemic has set off two trends that have been in the offing for some time. One is seamless travel, where the body and face is the passport. The idea of decentralized identity has been floating for a while which allows the individual possess and control identity attributes including the place and date of birth and physical characteristics, in addition to health info, details of travel history, and other data. Pooled together, these trends will ensure travel is efficient, enjoyable and safe.
Travel will live on….From the founder’s desk of Emperor Traveline – Part 4
I am really pumped up this week and all the more excited as the COVID-19 lockdown witnesses’ some form of relaxation in several parts of the country. However, wearing a proper mask, using hand sanitizers regularly and maintaining social distancing at home and office can keep the effects of COVID-19 at bay. There is something interesting coming up on the technology front; this week let us discuss digital traveller and how it can change or perhaps even enhance the travel experience.
Many organisations are well on their way to digital transformation. Businesses in the travel sector should push this harder so as to adapt to the new normal, change customer behaviour and rebuild the trust factor. Built-in digital identification solutions are the future of touchless travel. They also enable organizations to plot multiple data points to efficiently make an individual’s risk profile assessment. If anything, this can improve risk management in real time.
The Word Economics’ Forum Known Traveller Digital Identity initiative is one such initiative to unify a global ecosystem of individuals, authorities, governments, and the travel industry enabling safe and seamless journeys. All the verifiable claims of a traveller’s identity data can be accessed by the ecosystem partners to enhance passenger processing and lower risk. Travellers can customize their own profile, collect digital ‘attestation’ of their ID data, and decide what all is required to be shared.
In a COVID-19 backdrop, a traveller would be able to securely receive and store confidential, verifiable health credentials including immunizations or their health status in their digital identification wallets. This can be integrated with several other trusted, verifiable identification data from private or public entities.
If you think testing and health screening at airports is easy on a wider scale, give it another thought. Under schemes such as Known Traveller Digital Identity, travellers would show consent to sharing their health information and identity before the start of the journey, allowing border officials to carry out the needed risk assessments before the scheduled journey, whilst avoiding queuing and congestion at airports.
Travel will live on….From the founder’s desk of Emperor Traveline – Part 3
Let’s push the limits a bit, precisely what is required if you are part of the wide travel ecosystem to succeed out of the devastating effects of the COVID-19. We have been discussing the impact of technology on the revival of the travel sector in the previous two blogs and we will continue to deal with more technological changes viz. Digital health passports that will turn the tables on in this blog.
Digital health passports:
Health could be embedded in every travel process. A study by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) indicates that the use of masks, visible sanitizing and screening will help enhance passenger’s feeling of safety post-COVID-19.
To date, there is no agreement or standard on the acceptable level of risk for permitting individuals to travel or reopening borders. Until or otherwise any vaccine is developed, the focus will be on shifting to assessing the risk of individual travellers. With the consent of the passengers, airline and travel companies could make use of personal data including underlying health conditions, age and travel history to come up with an individual risk profile.
Efforts to develop heath standards and protocols utilizing digital technology for the travel and tourism industry are still in infancy. Erstwhile, airlines including Emirates have ensured that passengers need to undergo on-site COVID-19 testing. European airports have framed industry guidelines and regulations for passenger health screening.
While not novel a technology, the use of thermal cameras at airports is more prevalent post COVID-19 outbreak. There are many apps built for symptom-tracking and contact-tracing in several countries. Google and Apple are on the verge of finalizing contact-tracing software for developers to put together compatible apps.
New health-screening and tracking tools ensure the safety of passengers. All said and done privacy and data issues too have to be dealt with all the while. Any solution has to be fully transparent and secure if the travellers are to approve them for wider use. Sharing of data on a ‘need to know’ and ‘authorized to know’ basis, with prior consent conforming applicable guidelines and regulations should be in place.
Travel will live on….From the founder’s desk of Emperor Traveline – Part 2
I am more than excited to discuss more on why Travel will live on…and better than ever before. I may sound all optimistic, but that is how Emperor Traveline was able to take on even the roughest of tides smoothly and with a lot of grace. As I am writing this, I am hearing more and more of Touchless travel doing the rounds everywhere from airport curbside to hotel check-in. No matter how strict the cleaning protocol is, touching surfaces and exchanging travel documents through check-in, border enforcement, security, and boarding can still pose infection threat to both the travellers as well as staff.
Automation of the travel sector will know no bounds. That, for me, will be the new normal. Biometrics will play a vital role than ever before in the area of identity verification and their use will ensure fingerprint and hand scanners are the first routine-tests that travellers have to undergo and pass through. Not just these, touchless options will emerge including the likes of contactless fingerprint, in addition to face and iris recognition all serving at the frontline of COVID-19 battle.
The role of touchless data entry solutions such as touchless document scanning, gesture control and voice commands can turn out to be indispensible. Great care must be taken to make sure these technologies are inclusive, and to get rid of the risk of potential biases. From Touchless Entrance Solutions including converting sliding doors to revolving doors, contactless entry, retrofitting air curtains, and integrating external access control system, there are always new ways to invest in innovation to check the spread of COVID-19 and other potential infections in the future, and mitigate health risks involving Corona virus. Other takeaways include lowering building energy waste and costs, and secure and faster access to destination.
Travel will live on….From the founder’s desk of Emperor Traveline – Part 1
I wrote a blog previously on a world without travel, and the response I received from the users made me write a sequel to it. There were many I would call them pessimists during the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown who asked me if the travel industry would ever survive after taking so many punches left, right and centre. I would still say, perhaps even more vociferously than before, that the best is yet to come. Patience holds the key to unlocking the revival of the industry within. Yes, let me repeat, within. What lies ahead lies in how the travel industry will shape itself in the days to come.
Technology, for instance, can play such a huge role in turning the tables on. Now, ask me how. There will be a paradigm shift to touchless or contactless travel and a new health safety regime, backed by digital tools will emerge for the safety of the travelers.
Say even if borders reopen, travelers must have full confidence that boarding a plane is absolutely safe and that they will make it to the destination without any hassle. New health safety protocols aided by innovative system needs to be configured in places, though these are yet to be defined. As governments and industry brace themselves to adapt to this fundamental shift in traveller behaviour, the use of biometric and digital identity technology will prove to be indispensible. Only this can restore and instill a sense of confidence whilst also ensuring travellers experience a seamless journey.
All said and done, effectiveness is felt only if the user data is protected. Privacy, data transparency governance and consent may go a long way in ensuring the digital transformation of travel industry is seamless.
Don’t go away; there is more to come. But that’s for another day. Until then, stay indoors and stay safe.
